Driven by Apple Watch Series 3 shipments, the Cupertino-headquartered giant shipped a record 18 million Watch devices in 2017, an increase of 54 percent compared to the previous year.

"The Series 3 was the key growth driver, as total shipments of the latest version of Apple's Watch were just under nine million, making up nearly half of all shipments in 2017," Singapore-based market research firm Canalys said.

Apple's shipments in the fourth quarter of 2017 grew by more than 32 percent over the fourth quarter of 2016 to eight million, the highest-ever number of shipments in a single quarter for any wearable vendor.